Rumor: Constantine to Join Legends of Tomorrow in Season 2 [Updated]

Perhaps it’s appropriate for a show all about the supernatural that fans of NBC’s Constantine keep trying to bring it back from the dead. The ill-fated series based on the Hellblazer comics only ran for one season before cancellation, but recently found a way to live on when lead Matt Ryan reprised his role as the quick-witted magician in The CW’s Arrow.

With Constantine now official part of The CW’s shared comic book universe, fan efforts to bring the character back have redoubled with an online petition that currently has over 73,000 signatures. After all, John Constantine notoriously cheated death in one of the most famous Hellblazer story arcs, so surely a mere cancellation can’t keep him down for long. Now it seems that the outpouring of support may have had an impact, as a new rumor suggests Constantine will be back… though not as a solo act.

Bleeding Cool claims that “a reliable source” has revealed interesting plans for a second season of The CW’s upcoming team-up series DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. The show, which is set to debut in January 2016, will feature a crew of heroes and villains plucked from the casts of The Flash and Arrow, including the Atom, Captain Cold, Hawkgirl and Firestorm. According to this report, however, the plan is to “radically switch casts and missions each season,” and in the second season one of the new team members will be John Constantine.

The other part of the rumor is that Steven R. McQueen (The Vampire Diaries) is being sought to play another Season 2 hero. This casting news seems like a bit of a stretch, since the show hasn’t even premiered yet, but it’s possible that McQueen’s potential character will be introduced as a guest star in Season 1 before later becoming a regular.

UPDATE:Bleeding Cool has since walked back on this rumor, claiming that another “well-connected source” says that Legends of Tomorrow “is incredibly expensive and they’re not sure if they’ll go with a second season, and instead replace it with a totally different show for it.” It will naturally be difficult for Constantine to appear in a second season if that second season never happens, though perhaps he could appear in the replacement show. At this point, it seems as though nothing is decided.

Obviously this is from an unofficial source and should be treated as pure rumor for now, but it would certainly make sense for Legends of Tomorrow to feature a different mix of ‘Legends’ each season. The inclusion of Constantine also raises the tantalizing possibility that The CW and showrunner Phil Klemmer could be planning something along the lines of Justice League Dark, the only superhero team that Constantine is strongly affiliated with. That said, such plans might interfere with Warner Bros’ existing plans for a Justice League Dark movie.

While Constantine certainly had its problems, Ryan’s portrayal of the main character was a highlight and it’s a role that he seems keen to return to. We don’t know if this rumor is true, but we’re really hoping that it is.

The Flash continues Tuesday, December 1st with “Legends of Today” at 8pm on The CW. Arrow continues Wednesday, December 2nd with “Legends of Yesterday” at 8pm on The CW. DC’sLegends of Tomorrow is expected to premiere Thursday, January 21st, 2016 on The CW.